


Five Weeks

by perniciousLizard



Category: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
Genre: M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 15:40:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5253794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perniciousLizard/pseuds/perniciousLizard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a series of short scenes that would place in the five weeks the Avengers spend traveling from Kree space back to Earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Weeks

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [【翻译】【豹鹰】Five weeks by perniciousLizard](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7136216) by [batcat229](https://archiveofourown.org/users/batcat229/pseuds/batcat229)



It was five weeks traveling through subspace to get back home. Ten minutes into the trip, Hawkeye got bored of looking out the window, took a long nap, and woke up realizing he'd just used up the last of the on-board entertainment options for the entire journey. There was no TV (there weren't even any cheesy recorded propaganda films, much less the Kree soap operas he'd been dreaming of watching), no gym, and no stowed away selection of board games for long trips.

"This quiet is a rare opportunity," T'challa said. He actually understood the ship controls, so his attention was on one of the main screens. He kept pushing mysterious buttons and the picture kept changing.

Hawkeye was pretty sure if he fussed around with the onboard computer, he'd teleport someone into space or set off the self-destruct mechanism. "Sure, and I love a quiet getaway as much as the next guy, but I have a few complaints about the accommodations."

"Has anyone ever told you, my friend, that you don't have to complain about anything?" He glanced over. "That is not a service anyone has requested of you."

"No one had to ask. I'm known for my charity." Hawkeye stabbed a straw through into his drink and made a face as the strange flavor of the Kree drink filled his mouth.

"Indeed."

He walked over to get a closer look at the screen. The words on it were incomprehensible, so he looked at T'challa, instead. That was a mistake.

T'challa was supposed to be dead. Hawkeye had not had any time to absorb that, going directly from one fight to the next. He had found out his friend was alive before he had a minute to think. That was great, actually. Hawkeye liked getting to skip the whole grief process. He wasn't going to have to feel a metaphorical kick in the gut whenever he spotted the embassy or passed by the huge memorial statue they probably would have built for the hero who saved the sun.

But now that he had that time to think, with next to nothing to distract him, Clint kept going through the events at the wormhole, picking through them, and having to force himself to think about something else. If only someone had brought a damn deck of cards.

 

_Death comes to all, eventually._

 

_Clint, don't miss._

 

Hawkeye shook his head, trying to clear it. He gestured at the screen. "You can't read this, right? You didn't learn Kree since we've been here."

Panther stayed silent. Maybe he did know Kree; hell, maybe he'd known it since the first time he'd heard about the aliens. T'challa was kind of a huge nerd.

When he expressed that opinion and T'challa continued to ignore him, Hawkeye gave up and went to find more people. He flicked garbage at the back of their heads and feigned innocence when they called him on it. 

 

\--

 

Two weeks in, the group as a whole had enough of Hawkeye's bored target practice. They snuck up on him dozing in a chair on the bridge and dumped a box of garbage over his head.

Not  _everyone_ participated. T'challa didn't directly join in, but he did stand near the back and watch. "It is nothing more than you earned," he said.

"I can't believe you let that happen and didn't warn me, T'challa! I trusted you!" He went to throw an empty food canister at T'challa's head but T'challa was suddenly  _right there_ . He caught Clint's wrist and made him drop the canister back onto the floor.

"The more fool you." He loosened his grip and was gone.

 

\--

 

Five weeks gave everyone lots of free time to think whether or not they wanted to.

Hawkeye could use a vacation--he could always use a vacation, and those were always in short supply--but he wasn't going to let this trip count.

He rested his hand on T'challa's shoulder one day when they were sitting together, talking, and T'challa didn't push him away.

Clint's stomach settled. He was on a spaceship shooting through subspace, but the floor felt solid and still under his feet. They'd survived, somehow.

 

\--

 

He found T'challa standing by a small window, looking out at subspace.

Hawkeye thought it might be morning back home, according to his internal clock, but the lights on the ship never changed and he couldn't read Kree well enough to check the time. When he needed to know how long it was until the trip was over, he asked Vision. That guy at least answered without giving him a hard time.

He stood next to T'challa and nudged him with his elbow. T'challa turned and  _stared_ at him. Hawkeye shrugged, dismissive. He half expected the eyes on the Black Panther's mask to change color, like he was scanning him on different wavelengths.

Hawkeye broke the silence. "Aren't you ever going to congratulate me on my great aim? I saved like,  _everyone."_

"You came here to gloat," he said, flat. He looked back out the window.

"Hey, I pretty much saved you, too, didn't I? A little gratitude, maybe some ego stroking--I'm not asking for a lot here."

"If I hadn't lived, you would have been killed by those creatures without me. Give yourself that gratitude, if you need it." He paused. "I am not dwelling on what happened. There is nothing to regret, if I had died then--saving Wakanda and everyone else on earth was worth my life."

"Nothing to regret other than, like,  _dying_ , but sure." He shook his head. "Never mind. Maybe  _I'm_ dwelling on it."

Black Panther glanced over, again. "We have too much empty time."

"Exactly! At least if nothing was going on back home, I could watch TV."

"That time would then be even emptier."

"Oh, shut up." He smiled at T'challa without really meaning to. 

 

\--

 

"Two pair," T'challa said. He set down the handmade cards, his expression serene.

Jan, who had been sure she was about to win with a pair of aces, made a face. "I still think he's cheating."

"Then he's terrible at it," Hawkeye said, grinning, as he showed off his three of a kind.

"Congratulations," T'challa said. "Enjoy your victory. It will be the last game you win."

"You're going to eat those words, T'challa." Hawkeye collected his pile of bottlecap winnings.

Two hours later, T'challa dragged the last of the bottlecaps into his own pile. "I find myself hungry, without any words to eat."

"I'm surprised you don't feel sick to your stomach out of guilt from all that cheating," Hawkeye said. He was positive half the people at the table had been cheating, by the end.

T'challa smiled, very slightly. "Now, what would be the point in that? I won nothing of value."

"You're just a sore loser."

"Listen to your own words and tell me who is the sore loser."

"'I know you are but what am I,' man? Come  _on_ ."

Jan stood up, stretching, and Carol got up with her.

"Now now, boys. There are too many people on this ship to keep picking fights." Carol whapped Clint on the shoulder and strode away.

"Who's fighting?" Hawkeye asked. "I'm not fighting." 

 

\--

 

"I can't  _believe_ Blondie," Hawkeye complained.

"There are several beings on this vessel who fit that description, including yourself," Vision said, floating gently nearby. "But from context I will assume you were referring to some other person."

"Thor! I mean Thor! Big, blond, carries a hammer? You didn't hear what he said, but he's been pissing me off, lately."

"I was led to believe that was your default state."

The door slid open and Black Panther, mask pulled off, walked in and over to the food dispenser.

"Oh, don't you start with me, too, Vision." Hawkeye frowned and poked Vision in the shoulder. "Who 'led you to believe' that?"

"If even the android is starting something with you, perhaps it is not other people who are at fault," T'challa said.

Hawkeye ignored him. "Who said that about me, Vision?"

"I am not positive I should answer that question."

"You are wise." T'challa came over. The space was crowded, with the three of them, and his arm brushed against Clint's.

Hawkeye twitched. "If someone's talking about me behind my back, I have a right to know who it is."

T'challa looked amused, just in his eyes.

"Still, I believe I will refrain, at this time," Vision said. He floated backwards through the wall.

"Was it you?" he faced T'challa, hands on his hips.

"I have already said to your face that you are acting like a bored child." He opened up his box of mysterious Kree food. "Not that you are the only one."

"What do you expect? We're adrenaline junkies with too much time on our hands."

"Speak for yourself."

"Yeah, okay, sure, that doesn't describe you  _at all_ ."

T'challa broke a piece off the bar of food he took out of the box and popped it in his mouth.

"How is that? I haven't tried that one yet."

He silently handed Clint a piece, who eyed it suspiciously before trying it.

"This isn't...is this  _food_ ?" Tears sprung up and he started to cough.

T'challa nodded and closed the box, setting it aside. "Everything provided on this ship is technically edible."

He managed to choke it down without gagging. "What if this was a  _real_ vacation, and you could have anything you wanted? Any kind of food, from anywhere in the world?"

"After being so far, for so long, I can't imagine anything I would want more than a meal from home."

"Ok, obviously, but  _after_ that."

"What would you have?" he asked.

"Something garbage, but really good garbage, like the greasiest pizza you've ever seen, or classic garbage like a hot dog from a street vender," he said, immediately. 

"You have been considering this."

"Every day I've been on this flying hunk of junk." He nodded. "After I've scratched  _that_ itch, I don't know. Maybe someplace nicer. Like, I'd have to wear a suit." He considered T'challa. "You want in? You can't go to a place like that by yourself."

T'challa raised an eyebrow. "All of us?"

He shrugged. "Jan probably knows a good place." He hadn't thought that far ahead, past the food and the nice clothes. "You know what? No. I'm not paying to feed the Hulk, when he didn't even come with us." And he knew he'd invite the guy--Hulk had too many issues with not feeling like a real part of the Avengers, and there had just been that whole thing with the red Hulk. You couldn't  _not_ invite the Hulk if everyone else was going. He'd find him and invite him when they got pizza, definitely. He might even show, for pizza.

"I see." He looked Hawkeye up and down, considering. "Very well, Clint."

"Great." He clasped T'challa's shoulder. "It can be a 'congratulations on not dying' thing."

He shook his head. "Fine." Up until that point, he had looked amused, but now his face was as unreadable as when he wore his mask. "It's a date."

"Wait, what?" There was a long pause, while Hawkeye tried to absorb what he had heard. "I didn't--I never said--"

T'challa smiled, barely perceptible.

"Oh, T'challa, I  _hate_ you." He grinned. "Yeah, sure, it's a date."

That smile slipped away for half a second. "I will be there."

Hawkeye got the impression that neither of them understood what had just happened. Well, at least he wasn't the only one. 

 

\--

 

"Our course is steady." Black Panther was taking his turn watching the controls.

Hawkeye leaned against the wall and yawned. "Thanks for the status update but doesn't this thing run itself? There'd be alarms going off if something got messed up, right?"

"Yes. Ideally."

"And the non-ideal is why you're here."

There was a long silence. T'challa adjusted something on the incomprehensible panel in front of him, and the screen showed the outside of the ship. He hit another button and it flipped back to displaying the subspace they were moving through. "You could make yourself useful and take a turn here. This is not complicated."

It might break things up a little, but he hated watch. "Nah. You don't want me messing around with that, T'challa, believe me."

Panther looked over. Hawkeye couldn't read his expression, exactly, with the mask, but he was getting "vaguely irritated" from his general posture. "I will show you what you need to do."

"Nah, man, I'm good."

His eyes narrowed. "I suspect you will learn very quickly. Since I observed you just yesterday issuing commands to the computer without any trouble."

Shit. He'd been caught. "You  _observed_ me? Have you been watching me, Panther?"

"If you were trying to conceal your actions, you failed."

Hawkeye walked over. "Look, just because I can push a few buttons doesn't mean you should trust me with this."

"I have faith in you. In you, and in your ability to feign incompetence to avoid work."

He needed to change the subject. "I hope this isn't you flirting with me," Hawkeye said. "You're really bad at it."

T'challa stared. "...you will  _know_ , Clint."

"I'm not so sure, T'challa. Like, you sprung that date idea on me out of nowhere. As a heads up, I want to know about the wedding ahead of time," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I am qualified to perform the ceremony right here and right now, if you are not careful. Now stop distracting me and I will show you how to view the ship's status."

He started to laugh. "Was that a  _threat_ ?"

Panther was more amused than annoyed, now. He pushed one of the more obvious buttons and words started scrolling down the screen. "There are only a few symbols you need to watch for."

"Yeah, yeah. I got it. You know I'm not actually going to do this." If they gave him a shift on watch, he'd probably just sleep through it.

"It would benefit you to learn this, anyway."

"For when things aren't ideal." He sighed. "Fine. Did you make Jan learn this, too?"

"She does not bother me while I am working."

"What does this do?" Hawkeye had his hand whacked away before he could actually touch the panel. "You dick! Is this how you treat all your friends, or am I just  _special_ ?"

"If you were genuinely worried about the danger, you would not be so quick to push any random button."

He looked down at the console. "So, what, does that turn off life support?"

"No." T'challa started to explain what it was, and what everything was.

Hawkeye already knew how the guns worked, and almost everything else was tedious to learn, but his time there carried him a couple hours closer to home. To a change of clothes and some time in a hot tub. He paid close enough attention to get the general gist.

Black Panther skipped a lot of the technical parts, but when he did add more details than Hawkeye needed, he zoned out and watched T'challa talk. Panther wasn't really  _chatty,_ but he could roll out a boring speech without even thinking about it.

"What was the last thing I said, Hawkeye?"

"Something like, don't pull that lever or we all die. Hey, are you almost done here? Is Tony or Thor or whoever going to take over soon? Let's get something to eat. You're just stretching out this lecture because you're bored."

"Ten more minutes."

"All right, man. I'll stick it out that long." He nudged T'challa with his elbow. "For you."

There was a long silence before T'challa said, "Should I be swooning?" His voice had the timbre it got when he did not want to laugh.

"Well, if you're going to be traditional about it."

Carol showed up a few minutes early for her turn on watch. "Anything to report, T'challa?"

He shook his head.

Hawkeye grabbed T'challa's shoulder and tried to push him towards the door. "Come on. I haven't eaten in long enough that the Kree food almost sounds appetizing."

"Have fun, kids," Carol said. "If you wanted to bring me something, like some of that fake coffee, I wouldn't bar the door."

Hawkeye made a face. "I'd bar the door for that."

"More for me." She grinned and turned to the screen.  
  


\--

 

"So if you  _had_ died, who would have been king?" Hawkeye asked, curious. By this point, he knew how to recognize the food he hated the least, so the pure volume of Hawkeye's mealtime complaints had died down to almost reasonable levels.

Black Panther looked briefly taken aback, which had been half the point in asking. "That is none of your concern."

"I mean, was there going to be a strange guy in a catsuit at the mansion when we got back?"

"You are still dwelling on my death," T'challa said. "The threats we face make it likely we will not live for as long as we would prefer; any of us."

"I guess one fix for it is to make me think about my own death. Thanks, man."

"You need not worry about the fate of Wakanda. It and the legacy of the panther will continue on without me."

Hawkeye had realized that what he didn't like about what had happened, what really got on his  _nerves,_ was how easily T'challa had accepted it. The man had a  _thing_ about meeting his death with dignity, sure, but sometimes he acted like he was just waiting for the chance to sacrifice himself for his duty.

Sure, they could all die at any time. That was just something you had to figure out how to accept. Hawkeye could retire tomorrow, go into hiding, and have of his old enemies could pop out of nowhere and take him out.

And, sure, maybe sometimes you went on certain missions that maybe made you look like you had a death wish. Especially when you were in the middle of it, surrounded by people shooting at you, and maybe you'd just barely dodged a grenade.

But he was stuck with this uneasy feeling that he was going to see almost the exact same sacrifice happen again and again with T'challa, until it stuck. Steve, too, and maybe the rest of them.

"...are you all right?" T'challa asked.

Hawkeye started. "What? Sure, yeah. This conversation's just a mood-killer." He chewed on his straw, still lost in thought.

"The conversation you started." He paused, and when Hawkeye finally looked up, he was being stared at.

"What? Can't keep your eyes off me?" he asked. He tried to shake off his mood.

T'challa smiled.

"Can't say I blame you, really."

"Clint," he said, low. He reached over and took Hawkeye's hand.

Hawkeye thought there was a punchline coming, so he let his fingers be against T'challa's wrist.

"For the moment, at least, I still live. You can feel it, here, and believe it."

Hawkeye stared at their hands for a baffled second, and then snatched his hand back. "You said I'd know when you were hitting on me. You weren't kidding."

"Was that what I was doing?"

He shrugged. "I still have no idea if you're serious about any of this."

"The problem here is that perhaps how serious I am depends on how serious you are," he said, speaking quietly, leaning in a little closer.

"Ha! Then we're screwed, because, Panther, man, I have no idea about that, either." He shifted back to where he had been before T'challa surprised him. He reached over and grasped T'challa's wrist, grinning almost viciously.

T'challa's expression stayed even, with that same slight smile, but he couldn't hide the faster pace of his breathing. Not from Hawkeye.

"Hey, turns out you have a pulse still. All my issues--yeah, completely resolved." He slid his hand up T'challa's arm.

"All of them?"

"Okay, yeah, maybe more like...half?"

"Well," T'challa said, his voice very soft, "We do have some time. Maybe I can help the rest come to some...resolution."

Hawkeye looked down at T'challa's arm and snickered. "Okay, sorry, that one was really good. I'm going to have remember that."

T'challa was frowning now. "How good a line could it have been?"

"No, no, T'challa, I really liked it. Let's say: I had a question, and that line answered it." He stood up.

T'challa was visibly irritated.

"Sitting like that was killing my back." He rested his hand on T'challa's shoulder and squeezed.

T'challa shook his head and looked up at him. He gently set his hand on Clint's hip. "Are you comfortable again?"

"Not  _quite_ yet."

They considered each other for a little while longer and went to meet each other. The door slid open behind them.

"Well met, my friends."

T'challa nodded, acknowledging their visitor.

Hawkeye's tailbone hurt from hitting the chair too hard. He had moved before the door finished opening. He glared at Thor. "Oh, come  _on_ ."

"What sort of greeting is that, to be met with?" Thor asked. "Honestly, archer, I have never met a man with such a foul mood in such benign circumstances."

"It is a small ship, for this number of people," T'challa said. "But...I cannot help but agree with your assessment of his character."

"Hey!"

Thor left again after a few minutes. T'challa got up, too, and for a second Hawkeye thought he was going to leave. 

T'challa hit something on the door, and it beeped.

"Did you just lock it? You can lock these? Why didn't anyone tell me that?" Hawkeye asked.

"It is simple," T'challa said, as he demonstrated the mechanism again. "It will not keep out anyone determined."

"There's no reason why anyone needs to be in here." Did anyone else realize they could lock them? He'd walked in on Jan in her underwear at least six times. Second place went to Steve, who he'd only seen four times. Maybe he should start knocking. And introduce that as a general concept to everyone.

"No reason important enough that it cannot wait," T'challa agreed.

"You should get over here before one of us decides this is a bad idea."

T'challa nodded. He glanced, one more time, at the door and walked over. Clint stood up to meet him.

 

\--

 

"I don't know. I was expecting the last few days to feel slower than the rest of it, but they just shot by," Hawkeye said. He pretended to shoot the air over Steve's shoulder.

"I enjoyed the downtime," Steve said. "It's been one thing after another since you found me."

"Whoever's been dealing with Earth's problems since we left can keep dealing with it for a few days. I have  _plans."_ Hawkeye remembered being shot at the last time he wore a suit, so he should probably check that he had something he could wear.

"Honestly, I could use a little action," Carol said. She made a fist and punched her other hand.

Hawkeye held up his hands. "Remind me never to ask you out."

"Oh, I will. Every day, if you want me to."

"Thanks."

Everyone slowly started to gather on the bridge, the closer they got to Earth. Carol took control from the autopilot as they left subspace.

"That's a sight for sore eyes," Captain America said, as Earth appeared in front of them.

"Verily," Thor agreed. 

 

\--

 

Hawkeye caught Black Panther's arm as they disembarked from the ship, pulling him aside.

They spoke low. No one noticed right away that they hadn't followed everyone else.

"I guess if you  _have_ to visit Wakanda, I'll just make reservations for the night before you leave. Keep the catsuit at the base," Hawkeye murmured.

"I would ask you to leave your complaints at the base, but then I might as well dine alone."

"Yeah, you have to take the whole package, T'challa."

"Well." He pulled away, and started to head after the others. He stopped again and glanced back, after a few steps. "Indeed."

"What does  _that_ mean?"

He started walking again. 

 

 


End file.
